that is taken on a 70d, its good on the 6d also but i mostly have been using it on the 70d. it gives you a lot of reach in a nice relatively small package. perfect for hiking. here are a couple more that i also posted on the other thread, one is 500mm the other is 600mm. the squirrel is dxo default conversion, the pheasant has some usm applied in dxo as well as some shadow boosting

AWESOME! ... those are some of the best images I've seen from Tamron 150-600 VC, great sharpness and excellent bokeh. Thanks for sharing ... can't wait to get my hands on the Tammy.

Thanks for the sports photos. I'm trying to decide between a used 100-400 vs a new one of these. I would use it to take pictures of kids sports primarily but I do like to take pictures of eagles and other birds when they visit. I'd love to see more sports photos...football, soccer, rugby or any other field sports. I use a 6d center point focus.

Welcome! I usually focus on the batsman's head in cricket so I tend to use the upper focus point rather than the centre. Over the next month mine will cop a solid workout - waterskiing, cricket finals, military airshow, f1 gp and hopefully some birding, so I'll more often than not use the centre point in those. So far I'm really happy with the lens.

A colleague of mine, (a newbie in DSLR photography) needed some assistance to get the stuck filter on his EF-S 18-135 IS lens, so we went to the local Canon dealer (my office recently moved just 5 minutes walk from the Canon/Nikon/Tamron dealer ... me very happy) ... anyway, when we went to the store I was very surprised to find the Tamron 150-600 VC lens in display (apparently they've got 12 of them) ... usually in this country we receive new lenses a good 6 - 8 months after their release, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see this lens (also, this is an indication that this mighty Tammy is very popular even in this small country and that is the reason why the dealer here got them so quickly) ... anyway, the very customer friendly salesman (he's the one in the suit in the below pic) allowed me to play with the lens with his 5D MK III (unfortunately I was not carrying my camera, as it was meant to be a short visit to get the stuck filter off the lens ... so I don't have any sample images to compare).Having played with the lens for about 10 minutes, these are my first impressions of Tamron 150-600 VC lens:1. The AF, accuracy & speed are very very good (just as good as the EF 100-400 L IS)

2. Build quality is very poor in comparison to Canon EF 100-400 L IS (I don't think it will survive a fall) ... but considering its very low price and superb performance, I don't see how anyone can improve the build quality at that price point.

Unfortunately, the Tamron 150-600 VC lens price here (as usual) is very high i.e. US$ 1863 ... obviously I would not want to spend that kind of money on Tamron (despite its superb image quality, bcoz I am afraid that it may not last long due to its poor build quality) ... but ordering from USA at around US$ 1220 (1069+customs+shipping) sounds reasonable ... I was really excited about it for the past month or so, but after having held it in my hands, now I am in two minds ... my Sigma 150-500 OS has much better build quality then this Tammy and I know from my personal experience that lenses this big tend to get bumped into things very easily, so not sure if I want to spend US$ 1220

Anyway, here is an image made at the store with the Tamron 150-600 VC & Canon EF 100-400 L IS, next to each other ... compared to the Tammy the build quality of Canon is far superior.

what body is that on?did you do much PP clarity and sharpening?[/quote]

that is taken on a 70d, its good on the 6d also but i mostly have been using it on the 70d. it gives you a lot of reach in a nice relatively small package. perfect for hiking. here are a couple more that i also posted on the other thread, one is 500mm the other is 600mm. the squirrel is dxo default conversion, the pheasant has some usm applied in dxo as well as some shadow boosting[/quote]

2. Build quality is very poor in comparison to Canon EF 100-400 L IS (I don't think it will survive a fall) ... but considering its very low price and superb performance, I don't see how anyone can improve the build quality at that price point.

Unfortunately, the Tamron 150-600 VC lens price here (as usual) is very high i.e. US$ 1863 ... obviously I would not want to spend that kind of money on Tamron (despite its superb image quality, bcoz I am afraid that it may not last long due to its poor build quality) ... but ordering from USA at around US$ 1220 (1069+customs+shipping) sounds reasonable ... I was really excited about it for the past month or so, but after having held it in my hands, now I am in two minds ... my Sigma 150-500 OS has much better build quality then this Tammy and I know from my personal experience that lenses this big tend to get bumped into things very easily, so not sure if I want to spend US$ 1220

I'm a bit surprised at the build quality comment. I agree that the Canon 100-400 build quality is higher but then so is the price (50% higher here). However, I have owned the Sigma (sold it yesterday) and and had it side by side with the Tamron and I think the Tammy wins handsdown. Switches are recessed better into the barrel and feel more positive - the Sigma's always felt a bit loose and the white markings started wearing off them quickly. The barrel lock works better - no fiddling around with the zoom ring to lock it in place. The zoom ring itself is very smooth operating on the Tammy. The lens hood is also a nicer fit on the Tammy. The lens is plastic but it does feel solid.

I feel the build quality on the tamron is really good certainly better than the sigma big zooms with the old crinkle paint finish (yuck! I shudder just thinking about it), like i said before it feels like the 100 f2.8L IS on steroidsi do understand that most equate metal and heavy with good build quality but some of the more modern plastics are really excellent too and it keeps the weight down can you imagine how heavy it would be with a metal body?

I bet the canon replacement for the 100 to 400 has more weight saving plastic in it too

2. Build quality is very poor in comparison to Canon EF 100-400 L IS (I don't think it will survive a fall) ... but considering its very low price and superb performance, I don't see how anyone can improve the build quality at that price point.

Unfortunately, the Tamron 150-600 VC lens price here (as usual) is very high i.e. US$ 1863 ... obviously I would not want to spend that kind of money on Tamron (despite its superb image quality, bcoz I am afraid that it may not last long due to its poor build quality) ... but ordering from USA at around US$ 1220 (1069+customs+shipping) sounds reasonable ... I was really excited about it for the past month or so, but after having held it in my hands, now I am in two minds ... my Sigma 150-500 OS has much better build quality then this Tammy and I know from my personal experience that lenses this big tend to get bumped into things very easily, so not sure if I want to spend US$ 1220

I'm a bit surprised at the build quality comment. I agree that the Canon 100-400 build quality is higher but then so is the price (50% higher here). However, I have owned the Sigma (sold it yesterday) and and had it side by side with the Tamron and I think the Tammy wins handsdown. Switches are recessed better into the barrel and feel more positive - the Sigma's always felt a bit loose and the white markings started wearing off them quickly. The barrel lock works better - no fiddling around with the zoom ring to lock it in place. The zoom ring itself is very smooth operating on the Tammy. The lens hood is also a nicer fit on the Tammy. The lens is plastic but it does feel solid.

I cannot comment on your copy of the Sigma ... but I've owned the Sigma 50-500 (non-OS) and 2 Sigma 150-500 OS lenses (one for Canon and the other for Nikon) and all 3 of them had better build quality then the Tamron 150-600 VC I held today. Perhaps the all plastic construction makes it look weaker, so take my comments "with a pinch of salt", coz I only played with it for 10 minutes ... but those are my thoughts on Tamron 150-600 VC i.e. excellent AF & IQ, but poor build quality. Like I said before, this does make this lens any less, it is worth every single penny and more.

For example, I don't think my 24-70 f/4 L feels better than the Tamron. I also think that the new Sigma ART lenses have the highest subjective quality feeling after Zeiss, Leica and Voigtländer full-metal lenses.

that is taken on a 70d, its good on the 6d also but i mostly have been using it on the 70d. it gives you a lot of reach in a nice relatively small package. perfect for hiking. here are a couple more that i also posted on the other thread, one is 500mm the other is 600mm. the squirrel is dxo default conversion, the pheasant has some usm applied in dxo as well as some shadow boosting[/quote]

Nice work. So you prefer dxo to adobe?[/quote]

thanks, i do like dxo, i import with windows live photo gallery, then i open dpp, i use the quick check to go through rate and delete the photos i don't want, i like it because its super fast. then i will use dxo to convert the shots. lr seems cumbersome to me.

that is taken on a 70d, its good on the 6d also but i mostly have been using it on the 70d. it gives you a lot of reach in a nice relatively small package. perfect for hiking. here are a couple more that i also posted on the other thread, one is 500mm the other is 600mm. the squirrel is dxo default conversion, the pheasant has some usm applied in dxo as well as some shadow boosting

Nice work. So you prefer dxo to adobe?[/quote]

thanks, i do like dxo, i import with windows live photo gallery, then i open dpp, i use the quick check to go through rate and delete the photos i don't want, i like it because its super fast. then i will use dxo to convert the shots. lr seems cumbersome to me.[/quote]

Interesting. LR is good if you like the way they are in total control of the catalog and everything...I don't really like it, but I like the way it looks, the tools, the interface of it all when editing, etc. I may try DXO someday...I just don't like how they are biased against Canon in their tests, haha...

Does the Tamron 150-600 have automatic panning detection? I use 'mode 2 IS' quite frequently for birds, and it makes a difference.

I was also curious about this so I contacted Tamron via their website and here is the response from Tamron USA:-------------------------------------

"Thank you for contacting Tamron. Unfortunately the lens does not have a specific mode for panning. Of course the VC will try to compensate for any movement when panning in any direction but not like it would on some Canon lenses. Actually I usually recommend turning VC off when panning the lens if you can; VC is beneficial for camera shake but it also makes focus lag just a bit.

Does the Tamron 150-600 have automatic panning detection? I use 'mode 2 IS' quite frequently for birds, and it makes a difference.

I was also curious about this so I contacted Tamron via their website and here is the response from Tamron USA:-------------------------------------

"Thank you for contacting Tamron. Unfortunately the lens does not have a specific mode for panning. Of course the VC will try to compensate for any movement when panning in any direction but not like it would on some Canon lenses. Actually I usually recommend turning VC off when panning the lens if you can; VC is beneficial for camera shake but it also makes focus lag just a bit.

My experience is that the Canon 300mm f/2.8 II 4 stop IS is much, much better in mode 1 at freezing movement than is the Tammy. The shutter lag of the Tammy is, accordingly, less bothering, and I have found it negligible for big birds in flight. I use mode 3 for the Canon. At 600mm, I need 1/2000 for the Tammy without IS or VC for it to be absolutely sharp 100% of the time.